In Canada, one piece of government-issued, photo ID is sufficient. Indeed, if you do not possess that, you may have someone who does have Id vouch for you by signing a Statutory Declaration indicating the person is who they say they are. Interestingly, voter fraud is less than one half of one percent in Canada.

Here's one for you, Bush wins Fla. in 2000, right? He didn't need the Supremes, he got a coupla thousand more votes than the other guy - a win. But, some 500,000 suckers in Fla cant vote 'cause they'r excons -- done their time, paid their debt to society -- but historical laws preclude them from voting! Yes that is a fraud... and a failure of liberty in the land of ....

And rightly so that felons should not vote. They have already shown they are irresponsible toward other people. And that is not a fraud that is common sense.
I do not know about Florida, but in many states (this is a state issue) ex-felons can petition to have their voting rights restored. All they have to do is show they are capable on acting like law abiding citizens again. They can even have the right to buy a firearm restored.
So what's the problem?

Apples and oranges. Regardless, you can be sure Ashcroft's DOJ did a quite thorough job in witch-hunting, if not prosecuting. The results show that voter fraud is a non-existent problem. Hence any "solutions" for it likely have ulterior motives.

Indeed, being a Bush appointee, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the DOJ looked into Chicago and major cities in battleground states. What's your fetish with Chicago about? Last I checked, it not a part of Florida, which is the voting region which this article refernces?

Florida was won fair and square. If you will remember The Maimai Herald, the New York Times and (if memory serves) the LA Times went to Florida to recount the votes after the Supreme Court told the Dems to quit screwing around. When they got done counting Bush won by a bigger margin than the official count. This part of the story was not widely publicized so you may have missed it after all.
My concern with Chicago is that it is a Dem stronghold in a strongly Dem state that is famous for vote rigging. Among the dead voting and weird counting practices, Chicago is the template for vote fraud.
Another example is heavily Dem Washington state which the current governor won her first term only after the liberal Seattle precincts were recounted multiple times and mysterious boxes of votes showed up.
Point is if you are concerned about fraud look to the left.

It is simple. Prove you are a citizen and then you can vote. Miking it safe for illegal immigrants, dead people, or felons to vote does not make it any fairer. It just tips the tables in favor of the Dems who can not win otherwise.

You make a slew of allegations without proof. The fact is that in 2006 the DOJ went after voter fraud nationwide, and only got 86 convictions out of tens of millions of votes cast. You respond to this fact with baseless accusations.

Reading all these left wing liberal progressive democrat posts...I just can't beleive what these radical leftest are willing to do to stay in power. Let folks who aren't U.S. citizens vote?? Are you kidding?

Seeing the evidence of illegal voter suppression actively conducted by radical, right-wing faux-conservatives, I just can't believe these folks would destroy America by undermining our democracy just to stay in power. But it seems clear they would indeed do just that.

If there was any interest in both saving public money and making voter fraud impractical, then there would be a move to define voting as a civic duty and make it compulsory. If everyone eligible to vote, has to, attempts to win by fraudulent voting becomes so difficult as to become a trivial concern. If you have 10 voters, 2 fraudulent votes may have a big impact. If all roughly 220 million US voters are required to vote, it would take an enormous (and probably impossible) fraud effort to have any effect. The concern about those who don't want to pick one of the choices could be addressed by always having a "None of the above" option. However, it will be necessary to restrict how many politicians can change their names to "None of the above".

in California, nobody is asked to prove they are citizens. If they have a driver license, and proof that they are 18 years old, they can register and vote. The "dream act" type of young people who were brought here as children, frequently do not even know that they are not legal citizens. Several years ago, a woman who was born in Cuba and brought here by her parents, was elected mayor of her town, after previously being on the city council. She was not aware that she was, technically, an illegal alien. She was a mayor of an incorporated city, an American elected official, and she was not only not a citizen, she was here (technically) illegally.

Your uninformed platitudes and wrong comments about the illegality of Cubans (who are indeed granted refugee status when they set foot on American soil -- as indicated by "Joe,not a plumber") are symptomatic of the fanatical agenda of those who want to stick America's head in the sand.

Get informed, understand the world in which we live today, and stop positing fanatical propaganda.

Your uninformed platitudes and wrong comments about the illegality of Cubans (who are indeed granted refugee status when they set foot on American soil -- as indicated by "Joe,not a plumber") are symptomatic of the fanatical agenda of those who want to stick America's head in the sand.

Get informed, understand the world in which we live today, and stop positing fanatical propaganda.

A major hurdle in Florida's voter ID problem has been overcome. Quoting from an Associated Press feed:

"After a judge recently ruled against federal efforts to stop Florida's aggressive voter-list review, Homeland Security agreed to work on details for how the state can access the federal SAVE database — Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements — to challenge registered voters suspected of being non citizens."

This is at least a start but it took the State suing the DHS to get their cooperation.

The glaring oversight (or is it?) in this awful piece is your failure to even mention the critical reason for the difference between California and Florida. California is Democratically controlled, while Florida is run by radical, right-wing Republi-cons who will stop at nothing to win control (see Bush v. Gore). There is no evidence of voter fraud that even approaches the significance of the illegal and immoral tactics of the GOP.

Today's radicalized GOP actively engages in paralyzing Congress (John Boner), crippling the economy (black-budget warfare), sacrificing the health of Americans for the profits of the big pharma-medico-insurance industry (promise to repeal ACA), packing the Supreme Court with radical partisans (Thomas, Scalia), and saturating America with lying propaganda (Fox), such as the notion that voter fraud is a big problem. Not to mention invading other countries under blatantly false pretenses (Bush-Cheney-Iraq). Oh, yes, and voter suppression (Florida), too.

Sorry, but you're wrong on all counts. Try thinking instead of drinking the Fox Kool-Aid. Romney and the GOP's 1% are the problem, not the solution. The Bush/Cheney regime almost destroyed us--why would anyone vote for right-wing totalitarians again?

Based on their ruthless, self-destructive actions when in opposition, I'm rightfully concerned that if radical Republi-cons seize control we will lose everything: civil rights, health care, economy, environment, and America's narrow chance to rehabilitate our tarnished reputation as a responsible global leader.

I have a buddy who was a government employee and retired from his job at 43. I believe his outgoing rank was lieutenant colonel. I guess he's just another drain on the system, try. We should probably also ask him to forfeit his bronze star and whatnot also, shouldn't we?

Registering to vote is probably the easiest thing to do in any state in this Union. Congress passed a Motor Voter law couple of years back. It's hard to go into any govt office and not see voter registration forms.

What doesn't get reported often, is that quite a number of people who own housing in states like NJ, Conn., PA, Mass. like to go down south, esp. to Florida, and vote a second time (at the 2nd home). But there's nothing to see here folks, move along....

>>What doesn't get reported often, is that quite a number of people who own housing in states like NJ, Conn., PA, Mass. like to go down south, esp. to Florida, and vote a second time (at the 2nd home). But there's nothing to see here folks, move along....<<

Really? Seems a huge hassle (and quite a bit of risk) for not a lot of benefit (since you are unlikely to coordinate with a large number of people to do this). What are the specific statistics on the suspected incidence of such cases? Given the estimated incidence, how many people have actually been caught and convicted?

What you - and the authors of these laws - ignore is that it is infinitely easier (and more effective) to conduct electoral fraud in the counting room that it is at the polls. In the words of Boss Tweed, "As long as I count the votes, what are you going to do about it?" Ballot fixing in the style of the December 2011 Russian legislative election is obvious even to untrained observers.

When James O'Keefe tried to demonstrate the "danger" of voter fraud in the New Hampshire primary, he was able to illegally obtain nine ballots. The cost of his operation was $50,000. In the post-Citizens United era, it is far more cost effective to buy an election at the macro scale than by individual vote.

I live in Florida. The Ft Myers TV station found evidence of people getting out of jury duty by claiming they were not US citizens then voting - for years. Some were then interviewed and admitted it. That is called voter fraud. The primary evidence of voter fraud is in south Florida, especially in Democratic party strongholds.

Amazing the you need a photo ID to cash your SS check and get your welfare benefits and unemployment checks, buy alcohol and cigarettes, but voting is off limits?

That is not necessarily voter fraud, it could just as easily be citizens trying to avoid jury duty. (Whatever that act would be called.)

You are not trying to keep things honest. You are trying to distort facts and point fingers at a particular political party and then lie by pretending you are doing something which you are not. Shame on you.

You, sir, are dead wrong. Honesty and civic duty are high on my list. Without that, our society cannot survive.

If the acts of those identified is not voter fraud, then it is lying to get out of jury duty and that is a crime. Either way, the issue must be addressed to determine which crime, if any, has been committed, and to insure the quality of voting. Florida's AG repeatedly requested help from the DOJ and from DHS (both political appointees) and they have both refused to help. So when Florida legislature passes a law to try and deal with the issues, and takes a limited effort to ID those that may be non-citizens, DOJ files suit. THAT is political.

Honesty of the voters is a must. Anything less is theft of the legitimacy of the process. An illegal vote denies or offsets the vote of a legitimate vote. That act is reprehensible and should be punished. Regardless of who does it. Most evidence points towards the Dems at this point.

This is a red herring. If jury duty was shirked then prosecute them for shirking jury duty. If not doing your civic duty should be punished by revocation of the right to vote, then it should be done as a consequence of dereliction of civic duty, not as a dragnet program.

Either way, what in hell does an ID scheme have to do with getting out of jury duty? The problem has no relation to the response. It begs the question of why a reasonably intelligent body is legislating to solve one problem (jury duty dereliction) with the solution to another, much less significant problem (voter identity fraud).

Unrelated problem (mostly Dems), therefore solution to another problem is just poor logic.

FLorida has some unique issues because of the number of temporary residents from other states and countries that may spend months living here. In Florida, jurors are pulled from the driver's license database within the county. But there is no cross check between the DL data and citizenship status. The prospective jurors must affirm their status. We would like to think that all are honest but apparently quite a few claimed that they were not US citizens and could not serve as jurors but then registered to vote. The AG is trying to determine what they are but needs more info and the Feds refused to cooperate. This event highlighted the problem of non-citizens voting. Further investigation found people from other states that vote here and vote in their other place of residence. This demonstrates how easy it is for people to vote in multiple locations. If dishonest people can do this, they can also claim to be anybody they want. Requiring a photo ID at least reduces that possibility. I expect to see an eventual linking of state records to ID citizens so we reduce the dishonest voters from other states and countries and to ID those who use this as a ruse to avoid jury duty.
Recently a local judge summoned a large group that had been ignoring jury summons and had them brought in by the Sheriff to answer to him for failure to report. They courts are trying to address that part of the problem.

Dishonest people exist, therefore voter ID measures need to be implemented? Is the magnitude of the problem commensurate with the solution? If we take citizens voting to be good, how many citizens accidentally disenfrachized is worth a single fradulent vote averted? No one pushing the measure has bothered to admit that.

Making the procedure so difficult that it, in practice, prevents even ONE legitimate voter from voting undermines the democratic process far, far, far more than any fringe occurrence of voter fraud. Voter fraud is almost impossible to successfully conduct on a scale that changes the outcome of the national election (making the costs of fraud low). Functionally disenfranchising legitimate voters violates the "one person, one vote" principle however, the violation of which makes a joke out of democracy. Nothing, except for mental maturity, should prevent anyone from casting their vote in an election, and all anti-fraud measures must take this into account. Fraud is a crime. This means that innocent people must not suffer in our attempts to prevent or punish it. As Franklin once said:

Oh, if it is like Belarus, then we are second cousins on our mothers' side, and I want a nice cushy job, cousin-governor; and you can count on me and mine to bring in the votes, so that we can keep our jobs for a long, long time...

Too late. My mother already thanked your mother for the generous deal you offered for the greater good of the family. It would be way too awkward for way too many people in the family for you to go back on the deal. It would not be worth it - at least not the extra ten percent...

Ooh! Ooh! Can I be the Psychopomp Extraordinaire of the State Religion?
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I shall have the people worship your benevolence with offerings of whiskey, or I shall sentence them to an afterlife where every movie stars Jake Gyllenhaal! SUCH IS THE JUSTICE OF FAEDRUS! My only terms are that I get to wear a really big hat.

My mother says that it remains the original 10% or she will remind your mother why that long named fellow did not go to the prom with her - at the next family get-together. She would not tell me what it was, but she assured me that once reminded, your mother will be glad that she was given the chance to talk to you about the folly of going back on one's word. So, if you want to know what this is all about, you'll have to ask your mother - or the whole family will have a very interesting Thanksgiving dinner this coming November. I really don't want to know what the old birds did in their youths, but I think it is better for the family if you stick with your initial offer. Let's leave the old girls out of this. What do you say?

An eighth (12.5%) ought to keep the family peace. That is better than the Pope's rate (10%). But, then again, you are not a mere religious leader, but a proper ruthless atheistic dictator, so, you really ought to get more - a quarter more - than the Pope. Such are the realities of the world...

I wonder what the fellow did to earn such a frightening treatment?
Yes, among your weaponry are such divers elements as surprise, fear, ruthless efficiency and an almost fanatical devotion to power... ;-)

P.S. Thanks for opting for family peace. I really did not want to miss aunt Ruth's wonderful pies. I think she is in league with the Devil, because they are simply too delicious to have been made without "outside" help. No, it could not have been "the good side" that helped, because those pies are simply too deadly for anyone's health, don't you think?

Oh, she says different things to different people. She is getting on, you know. To me she said that it is just you, trying to to find a way to pretend that you are not going back on a deal, when that is precisely what you are doing - and I am eating one of her blueberry pies while writing these lines... But I'll play along with your game, and go from ten to twelve and a half percent for the sake of family peace. Otherwise the next family get-together will be for the ages - and Aunt Ruth definitely agrees with that assessment. Maybe she, too, knows a few things our generation was not let in on. I am actually hoping, in a weird, twisted way to see what all the old birds have been hiding from the rest of us. Men don't fight anywhere near as viciously as women (any age) do, and it has been a while since I saw a proper bloodbath - especially one in the family. We, Belorussians, party hard - and have all the corpses to prove it. The Ukrainians are bunch of wusses when it comes to settling family disputes. Even the Russians have lost their edge, it seems. Let us treat the world to one last display of what it means to be Belorussian ; and how we settle disagreements. Alexander Lukashenko has ruined our reputation as the only last true Bolsheviks. He has mellowed with age; what a shame. These Americans have no clue how to run a proper election. We, Belorussians, could teach post-graduate courses on how to ensure the desired results of any election. They are too soft when it comes to proper election manipulation. They always were too soft compared to us, Belorussians. Well, cousin-governor, I'll see you at the next family get-together - if you are still around. You might ask yourself the age-old question of "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?". The answer might not be to your liking...

Faedrus, want me to sentence him to a thousand tulgey unbirthdays? Or I can throw his soul to the Jabberwocky with a single manxome swish of my vorpal wand. Such are the powers granted me by the infinibenevolent Feadrus!
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Thanks for the position, btw :D. It would have been awkward to not get the job after I had already got drunk with power. Come on, lemme at 'em.

Praise be to the multiglorious Poombah Faedrus! For by his incomprehensible wisdom do I control the invisible angelic doom monkeys that are always watching you. Look upon the flopiness of my hat and fear! But, submit to his most democratic terror, and you shall eat sky cake in Valhalla! Such is the deliciousness of his justice.

Publius, be very nice to your connection, for he/she has high quality goodies. The last time we got anything this good was decades ago, when our synthetic organic chemist friends were cooking their own batches - and were nice enough to share with us. Oh, those were the days. After all, "Bicycle Day" had to be celebrated properly...

Hi, ya'all, If there is any reason to pay the $120 a year to read TE, this would have to be IT - to obtain a piece of its readers' minds, in wrath, in jest, in drunkenness, in billiant fun. I wish, I wish, I wish I had the facileness, in neurons, habit and words, to join. Sadly, I am but a transplant Asiaman, not long ago still scratching characters on the walls of a caveman's cave, and over the long days and long nights, became stuck in the stodgy environ of salted fish and soft pickles. Alas! But I adore your fun. :D

Curse The Knights Who Say Callooh Callay and their pagan revolt against the Magesterium! I must gather my magic energies to combat this heathenish threat.

Garaboncias, consider your contract to supply the madness potions I quaff renewed. I must take my spectral form and journey into the Clown-Realm to the foot of the World Tree, under which my vorpal wand is stored. So armed, I can mesmerize my opponents with my dinner-plate sized pupils.

Ashbird, you shall be my Templar of Chaos, commander of the Sky Fleet and the martial order of St. Suzi Quatro. Together we shall do battle with the forces of reason, and our enemies shall once again exclaim in fear "Ach! Too many squirrels!".

From the depths of Clown-Realm, beyond the land of the Grateful Dead, older than the unTime before the coming of the urGod Faedrus, I summon the instruments of wackiness. Take them as symbols of your office- the Snugee of Madness, which shall make you impervious to the foes of disorder, and the Runcible Spoon which shall the source of your lycergic powers. Wield them well!

As Commander of the Sky Fleet, I have just sent off the first Drone-manned squadron of Squirrels Shower, to be rained on the Land of Chaos at variable intervals the details of which known only to a nanochip hidden in the lining of the hat of Psycopomp Extraodinair of the Belarus State Religion.

Meantime, I am administering an antidote to the Supreme Commander Pompatus of the Faedrian Imperium, sprinkled in a small glass of single-malt whiskey, a major tranquilizer known to dull the senses of a mother elephant. This last resort is to spare the Runner of Snugee of Madness a trip to the local ER for a massive belly attack from over-laughing.

Your origins are immaterial. For a fee (depending on his mood & the alignment of the major planets) cousin-governor Faedrus will make you a Belarusian. We are to Belarus what Borat is to Kazakhstan - except we are better than Borat and Belarus is more glorious than Kazakhstan. Welcome.

Thanks for welcome. Now I have to double-check with my ancestors on the issue of conflict of interest. However, if cousin Faedrus will make me a Belarusian and Pascover will vote, I will give Pascover proxy. All is well. What's "K" bit doing?

Oh, that. Publius in a clever way played the card I dealt in my welcoming post to you, in which I stated the we were to Belarus what Borat was to Kazakhstan, except we were better than Borat and Belarus was more glorious than Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan produces a great deal of potassium chloride, but Belarus produces much better quality potassium, and in much higher quantities, than Kazakhstan. So, Publius reaffirmed my claim that Belarus is more glorious than Kazakhstan in an unexpected, but very accurate, way. I could do no less than send it back over the net with my "K" response. This sort of thing is fun, but takes some practice...

Yes, most certainly you answered my question. And thanks.
Pardon my ignorance. See, the more I hang out with you guys, the more I find out how little I know. :)
In my head, which thinks pharmacology whenever I see chemical symbols, K is administered in lethal dose to stop heart in execution chamber. I had thought we really had gone nuts in the conversation! :)

Publius, as an appreciation for the extended long-term contract, I personally guarantee that the quality of the potion is going to be so high that all other potions will be measured against yours. Those dinner-plates will be serving-plates from now on - and no opponent of yours will be able to hold your gaze...

Therefore, please take your concerns to Garoboncias, Chief Minister for the Department of the Treasury for the Ministry of (Play) Money, who may ask for another 12.5% of your salary in order to assist you, this being Belorussia and all.

However, in my capacity of - whatever - and after much prayerful solace, I have chosen the following anthem which I believe best captures the seriousness of which we are taking our duties as keeper of the Belarussian flame -

In his eminent wisdom, The Great Googly Moogly knows best! Shout is good anthem for the New Belarssian Realm!

Now Does it mean my indebtedness (12.5% fee) + penalty(2%) is canceled?

Can we re-negotiate on acccount of my "diminished capacity" when I signed for 12.5%? Say fee is 11% - Any overtime is included. Henceforth I work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. No holiday. All that for 1.5% reduction in my fee to you.

I am presently at the official harem of the New Belorussian Realm with Crystal, Annie, Ivana, Laura, Brittany, Karen, Cindy, Ellen, Sylvia, and a number of other young women I have yet to officially introduced to, dancing to the National Anthem.

You put me in an awkward position. I vouched for you to Cousin-Governor Faedrus - and got you the rate I got after much haggling with my own kin - and now this from you. I must say that I am disappointed. Very disappointed. You understand that from now on your rates will be 15%, plus another 2.5%, deposited to an account I will specify later, to alleviate my sense of disappointment. You are still 2.5% below the rate that Cousin-Governor Faedrus regularly charges for foreigners wanting to become a citizen of glorious Belarus. So, you must understand that this is still in your favor. But I am afraid your children will be working in our famous potassium mines till Cousin-Governor Faedrus decides that you, and your family, will have learned the lesson of not messing with the Treasury Department of glorious Belarus. I must call your attention to the fact that we will not expropriate any other property of yours , like the imperialist American IRS would in a case like this. We are not without compassion, you know. We fervently hope that all those pretty girls in the Harem will soften the Cousine-Governor's look on this unfortunate situation - and that you will have learned your lesson once and for all...
P.S. The children will be fed and clothed like any other convict at the mines, fear not.

Far from it. You are still 2.5% below the going 20%, don't forget. All my terms are fair and just. In the realm of Cousin-Governor Faedrus all punishments are condign. The rules are what Cousin-Governor Faedrus says they are; and it behooves you to remember that. I arranged that the children work in the repair shops and fix tractors and such, so that they don't have to work in the mines themselves. I had to pull some strings for that, you know. I made sure they will back for the beginning of the school year, don't worry. They will have learned some valuable life lessons in the mines. So, no, my terms are rather mild - unless you pull that stunt again about benefits and all that nonsense. Next time it will be Pompatus of the Faedrian Imperium you will be dealing with and not Chief Minister for the Department of the Treasury for the Ministry of (Play) Money (me). So tread carefully, you are now a member of the ever-so-glorious Belarus, after all... Welcome back.

Goody goody. You are nice to do what you did for the kids. That takes you half way to the good afterlife! With all due respect, Minister of the Treasury, I had meant benefits for not earning enough to make ends meet, not benefits for expanding harem! WOOOOOOOOOOOWOOOOWOOOO...

Anyway you forgot to tell me where to look up the rules. But first, were there rules?

All right. You are right! I guess my Q was, or what I had in mind to ask was whether you happned to know Cousin-Governor Faedrus or his daddy or grand-daddy or great-grand and so on, had made a book in which they wrote down all the rules. But now I understand the answer is there isn't such a book. Just whatever Cousin-Governor Faedrus says in the morning of each day. Umm....sounds more like it behooves me not to get on his bad side. ... But I am side-dylexic... Guess I am doomed....No salvation unless I join a group...

Or the inventor of the internet choosing only counties where he had a majority for a recount.

Paper ballots all the way. If you really want to see fraud, go electronic. Then there is no record. Regarding hanging chads, if it hangs, it should not be counted. How hard is it to remove a piece of paper. Heavens, if you cannot, you can probably ask all those people working the booth to help.

California is swamped with illegal aliens voting through registration ameliorated by ACORN, now sent packing by revealing their seedy illegal scams across the country. Of course, Obama started out his political career by serving as one of ACORN's legal consultants. Another fact deeply buried and unveiled by the investigative geniuses in the mainstream media.

You don't know what you're talking about. The ACORN "controversy" had to do with registration, not voting, and was reported by ACORN as required by law before any actual voting took place. You've been bamboozled by the right wing lie machine.

It is interesting that you should choose California gun laws to try and belittle Florida's voter laws. California currently has some of the most onerous gun laws in the nation. They were fought tooth and nail by the NRA and other supporters of the second amendment. Most of them are still on the books. I sincerely wish that it was as simple to purchase a gun in California as it is to register to vote. Maybe if it was as hard to register to vote in California as it is to buy a gun, we wouldn't have such idiotic gun laws (and a bankrupt state).

Read anything by Carl Hiassen, his articles in the Miami Herald or one of his non fiction books, if you want to discover the outright dishonesty and deceitfulness of Florida politicians, state and local.
That state doesn't know the meaning of honesty. They actually create local laws knowing - full well - that they are in violation of state or federal laws.
Why? Because it's making some millionaire landowner happy. Cronyism and bribery are the way Florida politics are run.

Then I could simply just walk up to a polling station, say I'm "Ventura Voter" (e.g. your legal name) and cast a vote in your place. Then when you come to vote, oops, sorry, you already voted, can't vote twice. Why is it offensive? Is it burdensome? You already need an ID to drive, open a bank account, receive any social services or welfare, buy alcohol or tobacco, or any number of other things. I personally have no sympathy for people who cannot be bothered to actually exercise their civic duty and register. It takes 5 minutes to print a form out and mail it to the county clerk. Or you could go down to town hall yourself. Or register when you're at the DMV. If you can't get there, I'm sure any number of organizations would be willing to drive you. Why must we cater to those too lazy to actually take responsibility for their own government?

As for your reference to Hitler's Germany, that is ridiculous. The ID is not to monitor who you vote for, or to repress you in any way. Also, I would refer you to Godwin's Law. Google it.

Walking in and declaring who you are is exactly what should be required of you. It is on your honor that you are who you say you are. Our society is based on trust; I also firmly believe that an ID requirement amounts to a poll tax, which is clearly unconstitutional. If you simply issue everyone a free ID to get around this, it is still a barrier to voting and a tremendous waste of our tax dollars.

1) Many people don't know you can get them for free. These people are mostly poor people who don't own cars.

2) Once you do know it. The voter is then required to mail a form to the county clerk or drop it off in person. For poor people without access to transportation, this is a significant cost in waiting for busses, paying for transportation, the time cost of losing a day of work to visit a government office. It's all a big hassle.

The goal of this law is not to ban people from voting. Just put one more obstacle up in the way of poor people and hope that a lot of them fall over it.

If they have no access to transportation, how are they getting to work? Also, why can't they mail it in if they don't have access to transportation? Further, who doesn't have a government-issued ID already? You need one for nearly anything - getting a library card, boarding a plane, buying alcohol/tobacco, receiving social services/welfare benefits, any interaction with the criminal justice system. Oh, and by the way, you need one to get a job, for the I-9 form. So explain to me how it's a burden for someone to present ID. The poor/minority/student population that you say would be disenfranchised almost all have one already.

If they have no access to transportation, how are they getting to work? Also, why can't they mail it in if they don't have access to transportation? Further, who doesn't have a government-issued ID already? You need one for nearly anything - getting a library card, boarding a plane, buying alcohol/tobacco, receiving social services/welfare benefits, any interaction with the criminal justice system. Oh, and by the way, you need one to get a job, for the I-9 form. So explain to me how it's a burden for someone to present ID. The poor/minority/student population that you say would be disenfranchised almost all have one already.

Regarding the "list so riddled with holes," does J.F. know why DHS refuses to grant Florida access to its citizenship and immigration database?

Detzner, whose office has been requesting access to the database since October, has asked to sit down with Homeland Security to meet its demands and get access to the database. That way, the state could produce a more accurate and easy-to-check list for elections supervisors, he said. Without access to the federal database, the state matched its voter rolls with a Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles database that contains some citizenship information gathered when someone gets a state-issued ID.

But that database isn’t updated when a person becomes a citizen. So many people became U.S. citizens and then lawfully registered to vote — but they can look like noncitizen voters when the elections department compares the motor-vehicle database against. To get around the problem, DHSMV has asked the federal government to give it updated citizenship information.